You know well enough that things don't really happen like that.
Hovstad. You're right there; but an editor
can't always do as he likes. He often has to yield to public opinion
in small matters. After all, politics is the chief thing in life—at
any rate for a newspaper; and if I want the people to follow me
along the path of emancipation and progress, I mustn't scare them
away. If they find such a moral story down in the cellar, they're
much more willing to stand what is printed above it—they feel
themselves safer.
Editors of the stamp of Hovstad seldom dare to express
their real opinions. They cannot afford to "scare away"
their readers. They generally yield to the most ignorant and vulgar
public opinion; they do not set themselves up against constituted
authority. Therefore the People's Messenger drops the "greatest
man" in town when it learns that the Burgomaster and
the influential citizens are determined that the truth shall be
silenced. The Burgomaster soundly denounces his brother's
"rebellion."
Burgomaster. The public doesn't need new
ideas. The public is best served by the good old recognized ideas that they have already. . . . As an official, you've no right to have any individual conviction.
Dr. Stockmann. The source is poisoned, man!
Are you mad? We live by trafficking in filth and garbage. The whole of our developing social life is rooted in a lie!
